Forty-Nine

She was sleeping when the phone rang, its muted beeps originating from one of the pockets on his discarded pants. Michael reached down and found it, swiping his finger across its screen to silence it.

“Hello, Alberto,” he said, affecting a lazy tone.

“Cartero, it’s been a long time.” The voice on the other end of the line delivered the words smoothly. “I trust you’re well.”

“Better than Hector,” he said, standing carefully so he didn’t wake Sabrina.

“Ah, yes, Hector. Estefan told me,” Reyes said as if Michael had broken a wineglass instead of tortured and killed a man who’d served him for the better part of a decade.

“Sorry about your warehouse.”

“You are only sorry that I was not inside it when you struck the match.” He could hear amusement in Reyes’s voice when he spoke.

He moved to stand at the window. “When I kill you, it’s going to be a little more hands-on than arson,” he said quietly, watching the darkness beyond the glass. “Hector told me everything.”

Reyes chuckled. “And what is everything?”

“That you kidnapped the grandson of a US Senator … and that you did it for Livingston Shaw.” It was a lie, but the silence that greeted him from the other end of the phone line told him he was right.

“Hector has always been weak,” Reyes said, his tone hard and even. “I supposed I should pay you for killing him.”

Michael smiled, the flash of white reflected back to him by the smooth black glass he stood in front of. “Or you could just tell me what Estefan is doing here and we can call it square.”

“His job. My little squabble with Jorge Cordova has finally come to an end. My West Coast foothold has been precarious of late, but now that he’s dead, Estefan is securing my interests there,” Reyes said, his tone heavy with satisfaction. “Thank you for that, by the way.”

It was the way he said it that told him the truth: Michael may have killed Cordova on Livingston Shaw’s orders, but he’d pulled the trigger for Reyes all the same. He clamped his jaw shut and took more than a few calming breaths so that he didn’t scream loud enough to wake the dead.

“Are you still there, Cartero?” Reyes laughed. “You seem to have lost your tongue.”

“Leo Maddox. I know Estefan’s crew snatched him and I’m pretty sure it was done under your orders, so …”

“You haven’t even asked about Christina. Have you forgotten her so quickly?” Reyes countered quietly, the threat so vague that no one but him would even know it was there.

“She’s your daughter, not mine,” he said, the words tightening around his throat.

Reyes kept talking as though Michael hadn’t said a word. “For so long, she actually believed you would keep your promise. She’s always thought you were some great hero, but Lydia … Well, in the end, she knew better, didn’t she?”

For the space of a breath, he could see Lydia, eyes wide and terrified, her mouth working silently, her words both prayer and plea.

Remember your promise …

“Your daughter was a job, Alberto, nothing more,” he said. And for just a moment, he actually believed it.

“And what of my wife, Cartero?” Reyes voice whipped out, edged in ice. “Was she just a job as well?”

Lydia, sitting beside him on the beach, dark hair lifted away from her face by the light coastal breeze. Bare toes dug into the sand. Brown eyes alive and happy as she watched her daughter build a sandcastle. “I barely remember her.”

“I think she would be hurt to hear you say that,” Reyes chided gently. “She cared deeply for you, right until the very end.”

“The Maddox boy. He’s the job now. That’s all I care about.” The lie came out smoother than he thought it would.

“That’s not exactly true, is it, Cartero?” Reyes said, his words barely above a whisper. “She’s not beautiful in the traditional sense, but there is something about her I find intriguing, your Sabrina. She’s a warrior. A fighter. Is that what drew you to her? Her will to live?” Now his voice hardened, truth ringing in every word. “You kill everything you touch, everything you love, but she’s different, isn’t she? She’s strong—seemingly invincible. She has survived so much. Maybe she can survive you … but do you really think she can survive us both?”

Sabrina.

“Don’t.” The word was spoke calmly, even pleasantly. A warning more deadly than any he had ever delivered.

“Amazing. After all these years, it looks as if an attachment has finally been made. I’ll hurt her and her family in ways even you can’t imagine,” Reyes said. “You took my Lydia from me. It’s only fair that I return the favor, don’t you think?”

He looked at Sabrina. She was still sleeping. Had turned onto her stomach, hands tucked beneath her chin. Her lips slightly parted, long lashes casting dark shadows across her cheeks. She looked soft and warm. Like every good thing he’d ever wished for but had never deserved.

“I’m coming for you. Do you hear me?” He felt something cold and heavy wrap around his chest, squeezing the air from his lungs. “I’m coming, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do to stop me.”

Reyes chuckled. “Stop you? Now why would I want to do that? In fact, I’m counting on it, Cartero. Hurry. Little Leo and I will be waiting.”